Fear raised over “Bots” being used in online poker rooms.

Worries have been raised in online forums and chat rooms recently that sophisticated card-playing programmes, known as “bots” are being used in online gambling websites to beat novices, and even more seasoned players. Playing a friendly, or not so friendly, game of poker at a friend’s house is an entirely different story from gambling online. In a real-life situation a player is provided with feedback from his opponents that you don’t receive while playing games like poker online. Indeed in an online situation there are no guarantees that your opponents are even human beings. “It is pretty much a certainty that bots are playing online,” said a Canadian poker pro in a statement recently, “… What we don’t know is how strong they are.”

The use of these poker bots poses a significant threat to the online gambling sector, with users becoming increasingly leery that they may be playing against sophisticated algorithms, rather than flesh and blood players like themselves. The online poker industry is set to hit the $1 Billion revenue mark this year, it’ll be interesting to see whether rumours of online poker “bots” significantly affect that projection.

Naysayers are quick to point out that the technology that would allow an automaton to keep track of the strategic twists and turns even the most basic game of poker tends to take, won’t be around for a while yet. Machines that can successfully “read” players cards are still science fiction at the moment.

This, however, does not take into consideration research currently being conducted by The University of Alberta’s Computer Poker Research Group, where they have developed an artificially intelligent programme that can currently play poker at a Masters standard. The “Vex Bot”, as it has been christened is currently only able to keep on top of two player games but, as critics of the project fear, it won’t be long before technology such as the “Vex Bot” makes its way to an online poker room near you.